By JIMMY VIELKIND Capitol bureau

Published 1:40 pm, Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Occupy Albany seems to be heading for a showdown: one protester says he will violate the curfew in an adjacent state-controlled park this Saturday, essentially daring State Police to arrest him.

"I'm exercising my constitutional rights," Bradley Russell, 39, said. "It's high time people hit the streets and challenge the shift of our wealth and money into politics."

The roughly 50-tent encampment has enjoyed detente with city officials since protesters arrived Oct. 21 in Academy Park, across from City Hall along Washington Avenue, with officials performing safety inspections and even trying to negotiate a memorandum of understanding.

They came to this live-and-let live place despite pressure from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aide, Larry Schwartz, who urged Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings to have city police enforce an 11 p.m. curfew in Academy Park, which abuts state-controlled Lafayette Park. Jennings was willing but police officials refused; Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said he wouldn't be able to sustain prosecution of trespass violations, and trying to do so would waste precious resources.

Cuomo and OGS officials maintain there is an 11 p.m. curfew in Lafayette Park, which is apparently not in writing anywhere, is not posted and was conceived a week before the protest. A State Police spokesman declined to comment Wednesday morning, but reiterated the curfew on Oct. 24, saying it was "speculative" to predict if any violators would be arrested.